ESCOs to deploy $1.8bn to modernise power systems at 100,000 cell sites

Feb. 24, 2020 - PRLog -- A new market study released last week by TowerXchange forecasts that a new breed of telecom energy services companies (ESCOs) will spend $1.8bn deploying 200MW of distributed generation - much of it renewable - to modernise 108,566 cell sites in the next four years.

Telecom ESCOs deploy their own capital to upgrade the energy equipment at cell sites, then sell energy back to the cell site owner for a monthly fee. ESCOs first appeared in telecom around a decade ago and, between them, 24 pioneering ESCOs already operate the power systems at 49,316 cell sites.

ESCOs are achieving challenging performance objectives often requiring 99.95% cell site uptime - the equivalent of just 14 minutes downtime per month. ESCOs regularly report 99.99% even 100% uptime, whilst also reducing energy costs and carbon footprints by 15-70%, depending on operating conditions.

Mobile Network Operators and tower companies are increasingly turning to ESCOs to reduce rising energy costs, to improve uptime, and to enhance both communities and the environment. A substantial pipeline of new opportunities for ESCOs, including RFPs from Ethio Telecom, Etisalat, MTN, Orange, Safaricom and Vodacom, is attracting more capital into the sector.

With ESCO partnerships in eight African countries, Orange are one of the ESCO pioneers, and they have teamed up with TowerXchange to co-host a unique new event: the ESCO Roundtable, taking place on March 24 and 25 in Casablanca. For more information about the event, and to download TowerXchange's ESCO market report, visit https://www.towerxchange.com/meetup/esco-roundtable/